Still Feeling Like Crud...

sniff

Update on the Poster Design

Hey everybody.

I just switched the blog over to the new Google/Blogger format, and I hope all is well.
I have also been sick with the flu, and let me tell ya... it sucks.
I have hacked up more plegm biscuits in the last few days than I care to admit.
First I am hot, then I am cold.... oh heck, back to hot again.
And could I possibly need to blow my nose any more. I think not.
Anyway, enough of that from me. I hope to get over this soon. (sniff)

I am posting an early layout of the poster that I doodled a few posts back. It went from that thumbnail, to this series of sketches. Still a mess, but a step forward for me. I am inking it, and attempting to color it up. I now think I may want to re-do it in a completely different way, but probably not until later.
Some process huh! Hah.







The second drawing is a re-work of Dwight's character.

I hope everyone has a good New Years Eve.
Be safe.

Jeremy

Here is a quicky to say... Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!!

The best thing about this piece, is that I may have my most favoritest art tool back. Long ago, I used Painter Classic. I loooooved Painter Classic. It had the greatest watercolor tools known to man. Then, one day, my computer and Painter Classic had a fight. My computer refused to run Painter Classic any more. I wept. I tried the new Painter versions, but the watercolor tools sucked.

Now, thanks to a co-worker, I have discovered the "tint" brushes in Painter 9. I tell you, we may have a winner! This was my first quick attempt, and I do believe it might work! YAY! Much rejoicing! I hope to do the Rocket Dreams poster in a warm wash, so wish me luck.

Ok, enough of that.

Again, Merry Christmas.

Jeremy

Merry Almost Christmas everybody.

Tomorrow is the day before Christmas Eve, yet I head to the mall to do some last minute Christmas shopping.
I am bracing myself for the horror.

I wanted to post SOMETHING on the blog, so I chose an older concept drawing.
Hopefully I will have some full color goodness soon.

Jeremy

This started as a series of doodles on a sketchbook page, but I threw them into a little comic strip template. I contemplated re-drawing it to make it all sit together better but I let the original stand. I want to do a little mini strip comic with these two, as sort of a little side story to the bigger tale.

Happy Thursday everybody.

Jeremy

Happy Monday everybody.


These are rough characters done for a larger piece. Scribble scribble. I am working on a pair of larger pieces, but I hope to post some of the concept bits and pieces as I do them. Food for the blog.

Christmas is coming!

Jeremy

This is perhaps the strangest piece of art I have ever done.

Let me start by saying what a horrible week I have had at "the day job." I believe I have discovered a new level of stress. The kind of stress that reaches inside your chest and squeezes. I am not big on complaining, but I will admit that I did some of that this week. Anyway, while I was going through this crazy week, I started my Drawergeeks submission, which was supposed to be "Santa Claus."

It started as a sickeningly cute scene, where Mr. Polar Bear is giving a little cutesy penguin a Christmas gift. Then, it went wrong. The stress began talking to me. It didn't like the fact that I was drawing something warm and fuzzy. We needed some butt kickin. So, the single penguin became a group of penguins. You see, they have been picked on by this dumb Polar Bear for the entire year. So when dumb Polar Bear decides to make nice for the holidays... they don't care.

As the leader of the fearless penguin clan distracts said bear and pretends to accept the gift, his reckless brethren take action. Steve Penguin quickly cuts open the gift sack and pilfers the remaining presents. Bob Penguin jumps from the santa hat where he had been carefully hiding and bludgeons Bear with a large rock. (The Bear did call him a Puffin.) Then for good measure, Nelson Penguin jumps from the top rope wearing his Sears and Roebuck Luchador outfit, to deliver the dreaded Mexican Clothesline.

So, the lesson here is... Don't let the mind numbing day job kill you, and certainly don't pick on the penguins.

I need a nap.

Jeremy

This is truly my art at it's roughest form. When I get an idea, I either grab a Post-It, or sketchbook, or WACOM tablet... and start scribbling. Nothing clean. Nothing solid. Just pure crazy scribble.

This is my first rough on a teaser poster for Rocket Dreams. (which may actually be getting a new title)
There is a lot going on, and it is still a mess, but the idea is there. I will continue to work through this, and try to post my steps.

Thanks for the kind words, and I hope you all have a great Wednesday.

Jeremy

Sorry about the lack of art postings, but these last few days have really been nuts at work. I find myself drained when I get home, and sometimes I don't get that much done on the project. I do plan on updating the RD website soon, with the story section opened. A lot of the art that I have posted here will go into the "concept art" section, as well as a few extra goodies.

On a side note...

The fact that Christmas is merely weeks away, has really started to hit me. Maybe it's all of the Christmas music that I have been pumping through my headphones. Anyway, I have also been looking at old photographs that I dug up at my Grandparents house. Me as a kid. My brother and sisters and I in our rag-a-muffin existence. We were so young, and so unaware. I remember not having much, but my imagination filled in so many blanks. One day, I want to sit and write about those days. My siblings and I have talked about putting the memories down on paper, and I think the end result would be something pretty rich.
An orange crate could be the world's fastest race car, and a bed sheet might act as a bullet proof shield.

Oh well. Sorry about the break in form, but I think I am having a moment. A moment of reflection, where I look back and wonder what exactly made me who I am today.



(I am the tallest, oldest, and goofiest of the bunch.)

OK

Being sick sucks.
I have a flu bug attacking me.
Bad ju-ju germs.

BUT (cross my fingers and knock on wood)
I think I have fought it off.

As you can see here, my white blood cells are jacked up
and already smokin victory cigars... Is the celebration premature?

Happy "Hump-Day" everybody.

This is a version of the main villain. Sort of mild I know, but there is a story to who this guy is, so I believe he does have scarier versions within his seemingly calm shell.

Christmas is approaching very fast!
I need to get my Christmas card done as soon as possible.
I of course will post it here as soon as I begin.

Jeremy

Not much tonight, as I am so tired I can barely sit up. A small sketch from my sketchbook to hold the blog over.
More to come, I promise.

Off to sweet, sweet beddy bye.

Jeremy

Some non-Rocket work as promised. This is my entry for Drawergeeks this week. I may or may not be done, depending on how I feel about the drawing tonight when I sit down at my desk. I would like to do another one, but I may not have time.

I wanted this to look like a vintage illustration, using textures and 3D objects in places. The clouds are tufts of cotton. The waves are old denim. Something different for me, and I would like to do one of my book ideas like this in the future.

Stay tuned...

Jeremy

Back from the Thanksgiving holiday!

This is a character from the "one-of-my-arms-is-way-too-long" clan.
A test for my brush pen.

The blog might get boring over the next couple of week, since I am writing more than I am drawing... but I have decided to post some of my non-rocket drawings here just to keep things going over the next few days. I am almost done with my Drawergeeks "Raggedy Anne and Andy" entry, so I will post that soon.

Jeremy

Happy Tuesday everybody. Here is the piece I posted earlier, with a little color scrubbed on. I am finished for now, since all I am doing at this point is figuring out how certain colors work on certain characters. If I have time before I finish the book, I might really paint it out.

Starting tomorrow, I will be on vacation from my day job for the Thanksgiving holiday. I will have a five day weekend, to eat way too much and hang out with the family. I also hope to finish up a few major story elements for the Rocket Dreams project. Writing is tough for me because as soon as I start, I tend to daydream of what I could be drawing. But, I am going to buckle down and type this stuff out.

So, no posts for a few days unless I daydream or decide to post a story outline.
I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving.

I will be sipping the nectar of the gods, Eggnog... and writing.


Jeremy

I sketched this out originally for a poster scene, but it really wasn't what I was looking for in the end. I hope to paint it up for the book, and I will show the progress here. I am imagining Captain Blast really bashing the robot's glass head, trying anything to shut it down. The battle has caused them to slip off of a cliff, so they are falling... a long way.

It is Friday, and that makes me happy.


Jeremy

I am starting to like sketching and doodling with grey markers, then adding details with my trusty black brush pen. It helps me keep the drawing rough.

Over the Thanksgiving break, I am going to be doing some writing.
Not as many drawings over that holiday week, but I will start to fill in the story for you here on the blog.

Also, I am still on track to have a book ready for the San Diego Comicon.
It will basically be a "making of" type book, filled with sketches, paintings, doodles, notes, and story for the Rocket Dreams project. I am going to pitch it to several publishers there at the con, but I will probably get some printed to sell as well.
I want it to be a nicely bound, jam packed art book, so hopefully it will be worth whatever I have to charge for it.
If anybody knows that they want one, chime in between now and April so I can start figuring out how many to get printed.

Thanks for the comments guys!

Jeremy

I drew this today of Dwight's friend Orznork below. I was thinking about what would happen if he took off his "jar" helmet and started to "squish morph." He can control it pretty well. Sometimes.

I feel for Dwight here. Sitting indoors while the beautiful fall weather is being wasted outside. "Why do I have to sit here?" he asks himself. "There are space battles to be fought in my yard, and I am wasting time here in English class!"

I feel like Dwight at the moment. The Florida weather has cooled for the fall, and our days are around 75 degrees.
So nice.

He is Orznork. He is a cool dude. He is one of Dwight's classmates at the Ranger Academy. He is Orange, and gooey.

Well, it's Wednesday. Not quite Friday, but sure better than Monday.

I wanted to share a color key that I did of the Captain Blast character. He is an aged hero in the story, which would explain the salt and pepper hair and face lines. When he finally meets up with Dwight, he is beginning to consider retirement. But there is that story again! I have to slap my hand and finish it up... and hopefully share it soon. No really, I will.

Thanks again to the people who check out the blog. I have been getting nice email and comments, which as I said before, help motivate.

More art and maybe even story in the next few days.

Jeremy

Yeah, I know this is old art. I felt so bad about not posting I wanted to throw something up that hasn't been on the blog.

I am working hard on Rocket Dreams, I assure you. It is slow going when I only have a few hours at night to tackle the project. I am certainly not complaining, as I am very happy to have a loving family and a day job to pay the bills. I do however sometimes find it hard to balance everything I try to do. And when it comes down to it, my projects take a distant third behind being a husband and a father.

Ah, but no preaching from me. I will be posting some cool stuff soon. At least it's cool to me. The story is coming along, as is the character development. I am making progress, which is always a good thing. I also hope to have a teaser poster completed in the next few months. It may be just for me, but if I do get it printed I will let you guys know.

And thanks to the few of you who keep checking this blog out!
I appreciate it very much, and it helps keep me motivated.

Also, expect a big announcement from me in a few weeks!

Jeremy

I dug up a small little sketch book that I keep in my bag for this project. I don't think any of these designs stuck. Maybe some of the robot style pieces. I promise I will get something of more substance up soon.

A development drawing for an older, slower Captain Blast. I will need to take another drawing break soon and do some more writing. Soon I hope to share some story!

This is a look at an EARLY drawing with ideas for the Rocket Dreams story. The characters have changed (are still changing) and so has the logo. In fact, most of the design here is downright silly. But, it was a start.

This is far from done, but a look at another color test. I am working to see if I can keep these rough pencils as they are, or do I need to add ink. The answer has not yet been reached.





This is what happens when I get tired, and start to "doodle-wander" in the old sketchbook. I am not sure who in the heck these guys are, but they both scare me a bit.

"They should have known better than to walk through a lunar stone field at night. Before the Captain could turn around to see what Dwight's yelling was about, he already knew. He looked just in time to spot a full grown blorg quad beast snatch his young friend and lift him twenty feet into the air. As he reached for his blaster, a cold tentacle whipped around and knocked him off of his feet. In seconds he was high above the ground with Dwight, wondering how he could have been so stupid."

Here are the boys in color. I am not sold on this style yet, as I might try to ink these up.

Jeremy

Here we have Dwight and the captain watching each other's back. They have had a rough day, and are not messing around.

I have to say that I am really enjoying using the pencils again. It feels good.
I am playing around with colors on this, so hopefully I can share that soon.

Jeremy

Fooling around with a PITT Artist Pen. I do love them so. I don't have a good steady inking hand, but as long as I can keep it rough, I do ok. This is a warm up piece, showing our little robot friend scared to death by a grumpy Blorg.

You know, a Blorg.

Aha!














More development art. The guns aren't quite working for me, but that is why we do these roughs! On to more drawing!

It is late, and I should be in bed... but instead I am up on the computer posting to a blog. Makes sense to me!

This is my first drawing of Captain Blast. I expect the Captain to change a bit before I decide on a design, but it's always cool to see where these things start. He is a little too "rounded" here, but I do want to keep a cartoony look... hmmm.

More drawing!

Jeremy

Another developmental doodle! More icky brain creatures. These guy are pests, and not very nice.

Sort of like phone solicitors.

Jeremy

As the Rocket Dreams story develops, there are some very interesting characters emerging.
This is a concept for one of the baddies, where he has plugged into a giant robotic suit.
These drawings that you will see in the next few weeks are really rough ideas, and merely
my first attempts at fleshing out a big strange world.

And besides, what is cooler than brain creatures in jars.
I ask you.

Jeremy

It Begins

As it stands, this blog will go forward as the Rocket Dreams production blog.
I am transferring from an existing older blog, so bear with me.

I believe that the switch will make things easier for me, and I think that the new format and image display options will lend to a better overall blog! Yay!

So, let it begin.
Art to follow!

Jeremy